Hi Gary,

Yes, I previously had a root canal done on not just one but on both front teeth, at different times for different reasons. Four years ago, I had both front crowns replaced at the same time. When the dentist here first took a look at my mouth and at the x-ray scan, he said both front crowns were made using posts that were short, implying there was not adequate strength in the connection between the remains of my teeth to the crown and leading to part of the tooth breaking off inside the crown. The dentist said his work would include putting a bigger, longer post into the tooth, to give greater strength to the tooth. I considered asking him if he had time to also replace the second remaining crown, as it is prone to the same issue, but decided to just do the one now.

Whereas the crown that fell out had the post incorporated into the crown, the dentist here has already put a new post in place. The new crown will be put in this afternoon.

Regarding what kind of crown, as I wrote to a friend who suggested gold, so I could use it for barter in the future if need be, I told him, no way, that I’d prefer to barter with HIS gold teeth, not mine!

As far as everyday issues here in Tajikistan, that’s too long for me to adequately address at the moment, maybe will get to it after returning from the mountains. The simple view is that life is much more stable here under the clearly authoritarian government than it is in places like the US and Canada. People’s lives are not affected by what’s going on outside of the country, at least not so much. Of course, my guide could earn no income by guiding these last two years because there was no tourism at all, due to covid policies. So, the outside world does have its effects.

Maybe the quickest way to give a surface view of what seems important here is to list some things that I have NOT seen in Tajikistan:

-trash or litter
-grafitti
-tattoos
-facial piercings
-men with top-knot buns
-handicap parking spaces
-masks (except in the dentist office)
-McDonalds
-Americans
-dogs or cats
-electric cars (even though the electricity is from hydro)
-flying aircraft!

One story I’ll share now is from Turkey. The owner of a small hotel there spoke English well, because he also lives in England part-time. I asked him the current state of affairs in Turkey, his views about the situation in Ukraine, whether the majority of Turks are aware of what’s going on in the world, etc., etc. Boy, did I open a floodgate! This guy was as educated as anyone I’ve ever met, in terms of real knowledge and understanding. He was every bit as good as the Duran’s Alex and Alexander. He would be a valuable addition to Goldtent, but alas he did not want to paint a target on his back, let alone on his forehead. When I asked if I could take a photo of him, he said “No way.” But he was glad to talk, especially with an American who was interested and saavy.

One of the things he shared with me that he couldn’t get his head around was that Americans as a whole were actually so stupid as to allow Biden to represent the country, because, as he said, it was painfully obvious to anyone with even half a brain cell the guy was not in control of anything and never had been. He did not accept that Americans couldn’t immediately do anything about the situation.

We had quite the conversation. Unfortunately, his time was limited, otherwise I would have stayed at least one extra day, lubricated him with alcohol and listen to him really spill the beans!

All for now, from the middle of everything!

Bill

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Wow…thats a mouthful… So I guess You could say Goldbaloon had a screw loose